The I-TED Conference on Transportation and Economic Development has now concluded. Judging by the reaction of all the participants with whom I’ve spoken, it was a tremendous success. Here are some personal observations. The field of Transportation and Economic Development has really matured. I’ve been going to this conference series since they started in 1989, and we’ve come a long way since then. A dominant focus of presentations at the 1989 conference was showing how transportation investment supports jobs. At this conference, in contrast, we had speakers talking about how economic development is (or should) factor in transportation decision processes for asset management, right sizing, maintenance and repair, finance, operations and programming, prioritization, long term planning and resilience evaluation. The speakers and poster session offered a substantial set of examples of how various transportation agencies are now carrying out such processes. The conference was also organized in a way that enabled...

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